The highway of letters and its echoes of famous footsteps

Preface

In these days of ruthless removal of ancient landmarks, we never know for how long any locality may be spared to us. In London, at any rate, objects which to-day are so familiar to the wayfarer in the streets that he is ready to regard them as monuments, will to-morrow have disappeared, and he will be left idly gaping at an empty space, which gapes at him in return.

The demolition of the remnant of some ancient houses in Fleet Street not unnaturally suggested that the street itself^ — latterly, with no architectural attractions except for some large and imposing piles of buildings here and there, incongruously breaking the sordid monotony of the shabby shops and houses — has been, since the first makers of English traversed it, " The Highway of Letters." It therefore seemed fitting that some kind of memorial should be written concerning it in that aspect.

The present volume does not, it is almost needless to say, profess to be more than a gossipy reference to people and achievements which characterise the story of Fleet Street in its relation to the gTowth of literature and to changes in social and political aspects at various periods. The book is intended to be a chatty indication of what might be expanded into a more iv PREFACE.

elaborate chronicle ; but the author trusts that he may at least claim the merit of accuracy, secured by some research ; and though the vokmie may appear to consist of a series of desultory sketches, it is hoped that it will be found not only consecutive and suggestive, but entertaining. Should there arise a murmured objection that in some instances it extends its local references beyond the actual boundaries of the historical thoroughfare, it may be obvious that in order to preserve reasonable continuity some of the habitues of Fleet Street must be followed to other

resorts.

THOMAS ARCHER

Clapton, March, 1893.

Chapter I. With Chaucer On Pleet Bridge

The Highway of Letters before Printing — Tui'mnill Brook — River of Wells— Hole -bourne— The Fleet— The Palace and the Prison — ^Fleet Bridge — Aspect of Streets and Houses — Churches — Mansions — ' ' Mine Inn ' ' — Temple Bar — The Temple and the Templars — Old and New Settlements of Templars — Siu'vivals — Knights Hospitallers — Successors — Serjeants — Masters of the Rolls — The World of Letters — A Thousand Years before Milton — With Chaucer and Gower on Fleet Bridge — Good Company in Fleet Street — Costume — Eating and Drinking — " Boltas Mootes " — " Paradise " — Edward III. — John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster — Baynard's Castle — Wycliffe at St. Paul's Chiu'ch — Riots of the Citizens against Lancaster — Tumult in Fleet Street — Sack of the Savoy .....

Chapter II

vox CLAMANTIS IN FLEET STREET.

The Strand— Char-Ing Cross— Wycliffe' s Writings— The Translation of the Bible — Effect on Letters — "Vox Clamantis " — Langland — "Piers Plowman", — Papal Authority — Wat Tyler — Insurgents in Fleet Street — Wreck of the Temple Buildings —Ruin of the Savoy— The "Moral Gower"— The "Philosophical Strode" — Gower and the Young King — " Conf essio Amantis " — Henry of Lancaster— Gibbet and Stake in Fleet Street — St. Dunstan's— White Friars — Conduits — Fewter Lane — John Lydgate — Revival of English Literature — Occleve—Pecock— Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester— Outdoor Sports — Football in Fleet Street — Shire Lane — The MajqDole near Temple Bar — " London Lyckpenny " — John Harding — Thomas Fabyan — John Shirlej^ ... ... 40 vi TBE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

PAGE

CHAPTEE III.

THE GOOD DUKE HrMPHREY,

Good Duke Humphrey — Witchcraft in Baynard's Castle— Eleanor Cobham's Penance in Fleet Sti-eet — Sorcery — Eoid Play — Whittington — Grey Friars and Guildhall Libraries — Value and Accumulation of Books in Fleet Street — The Stationers' Company — The Wardrobe Accounts — Stationers' HaU — Edward of York at Baynard's Castle — The Earl of Warwick in Fleet Sti-eet — The Eed and White Eoses — Eichard of Gloucester — His Patronage of Learning — William Caxton at Bruges — Meeting of Edward IV. and Caxton — Earl Eivers' Book— The Mazaria Bible— Fii-st "Block" Piinting— Movable Types — Early Printers— The "Eeed Pale" by the Almom-y — Fii'st Books Printed in England — The Paston Letters 6Q

CHAPTEE IV.

THE XEW LEARNING,

The Study of Greek — Greek Philosophy in the Highway of Letters — Liaacre — The College of Physicians in Knightrider Street : At Amen Comer : In Warwick Lane — TheFaculty — Garth and "The Dispensary" — Hai-vey — Colet — Lily — Fisher, Bishop of Eochester — Thomas More — Pynson, the King's Printer, by St. Dunstan's Church — Wynkynde Worde at the " Sun " — Sir John More on Marriage — Cardinal Morton — The Bishop's Strawberries — Thomas More, Under- Sheriff of London — Famous Footsteps in Fleet Street 86

CHAPTEE V.

KING, CARDINAL, AND SATIRIST.

Wolsey in Chancery Lane — A Harmony in Crimson— In the Palace of Bridewell — The Fall of Wolsey — Gorgeous Pageantry in Fleet Street— The Marching Watch— The Highway of Letters at Xight — Wholesale Hangiug — Horn Lantern Bearers — The Bellman — Milton — Herrick — John Skeltou — His Lampoons on Wolsey -" Speke Parrot "—The Star Chamber ... 96

CHAPTEE VI.

POETS AND PRINTERS IN PLEET STREET.

Falstaff and his Companions in the Fleet Pnson — Sii" Thomas Wyatt — Henry Howard, Earl of Sm-rey — The New Poetry — The Ballade, the Sonnet, and the Eondeau — Wyatt in Prison —

CONTENTS. vii

PAGE

Surrey's Frisk in the City —He is sent to the Fleet — "Wyatt's Death — Siirrey's Sentence and Execution — The Seymours — The Howards — Tottell, of Fleet Street, prints the New Poetry — John Jaggard — Joel Stephens — Shakespeare at the " Hand and Star " -Successors of Caxton in the Highway of Letters— Early Printing and Publishing Stationers— The Stationers' Company — Printing the Bible — Tyndal — Miles Coverdale— Cranmer— The Matthew Bible— The "Great" Bible— The "Bishops'" Bible— Printing in France— Whit - chui-ch and Grafton in Fleet Street— Grafton in the Fleet Prison — Early Printed Books Ill

CHAPTER VII.

THE DISPEKSION OF LIBRARIES.

Valuable MSS. — The Accumulation of Rare Copies — Benefactors to Letters— The Slow Growth of Printing— Obligations of Book Borrowers — A Bishop's Warning —Oxford Library — Its Dispersion by "Visitors" under Edward VI. — Tiptoft's Contributions to Letters — Destruction of Abbeys and Churches by Thomas Cromwell — Leland's " Itinerary " — Hall's "Chronicle" 129

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ECLIPSE OF LETTERS.

The Boy King in the Highway of Letters — His Learning — Sir John Cheke — Roger Ascham — Bishop Gardiner — Sir Humphrey Wingfield— The Book and the Bow— Italian Tales— The King's Journal — Ubaldini — Bonner and Gardiner in the Fleet — The Grey Friars — A Palace converted to a Reformatory — Foundation of" Christ's Hospital — "Blue Coat Boys" who walked in the Highway of Letters — Bishop Hooper in the Fleet — Queen Mary in Fleet Street — Wyatt's Rebellion — Persecutions — The Charter of the Stationers' Company — Suppression of Free Printing — Elizabeth and the Stationers — Fox — "The Acts and Monuments" — Day, the Printer — Oporinus — Grub Street . . 136

CHAPTER IX.

THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY.

The Heavy Crown — Elizabeth in the Highway of Letters — Printers — Chroniclers — John Stow in Fleet Street — His "Annals," ' ' Chronicle," and ' ' Survey " — Thynne — Reprints of Chaucer —

THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

PAGE

With Stow fi-om Bajmard's Castle to Temple Bar — Lord Pembroke — EUzabeth at Baynard's Castle — Dissolution of the Black Friars — Liberty of the Friary — Hunsdou House — Pollution of the Fleet — Conduits — Shoe Lane — Tankard Bearers — Lambe's Conduit — Fleet Street Taverns — Eating and Drinking—Venison — The Fleet Prison — Inns of Law — The Temple — Pageants, Masques, Comedies, Tragedies, Interludes — Dancing — The Dancing of Elizabeth — The "Pavo" — Gambling — "Primero" — "Noddy" — "Mne Men's Monis" — Sahsbuiy Court — Sir Thomas Sackville — White Friars — " Sanctuary " — A New Temple Bar — Stow a Typical Londoner — His Long Life and Labour — His Library — His Devotion to Letters — His Reward — His Monument 159

CHAPTER X.

THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.

The Highway of Letters in the days of Elizabeth — Coui-tiers — 'Prentices — Flattery and Fashion — Taverns in Fleet Street — High Living and High Thinking — Wigs and Ruffs — Shows and Amusements — Inn Yards— Stage Plays — Thames Watermen — ^From Temj)le Staii's to Bankside — ^Bankes — Tarleton — Defeat of the Annada — Procession fi'om Somerset House to St. Paul's — Fii'st Coaches — Taylor, the Water Poet — The Queen at Blackfriars — Rare Doings at the " Horn " Tavern — Witty and Wise at the "Mermaid" — Raleigh — Bacon — Buildings and tlieii- Occupiers in Fleet Street 175

CHAPTER XI.

DRAMATISTS, PLAYS AND PLAYERS.

Common Plays and Players — Childi'en of the Revels — The Fii'st Eng- Ush Comedy — Udall — Masques — Interludes — John Heywood — Rastell the Tvinter— Gajn/ner Girrto/i^a Needle — Gorhoduc — Sackville at Salisbury House — Classical Learning — "The MiiTor for Magistrates " — Thomas Norton — Stemhold and Hopkins — Origin of the ' ' Old Hundredth ' ' — Performances in the Middle Temple — Christopher Hatton — "Gloriana" — Spenser — Raleigh — Sidney — The ' ' Arcadia ' ' — Countess of Pembroke — The Euphuists — Lyly — Campaspc^ played by "Her Majesty's Children" — Singing and Acting Boys — Opposition to Stage Plays — Licences and Privileges to Actors as "Servants" to Noblemen — The Earl of Leicester — Burbage's Company and the Fu'st Theatres — Sir* Philip Sidney's Description of the Stage — Dramatists and Actors in Fleet Street — Peele — Greene — Marlowe — The Young Man from

CONTENTS. ix

PAGE

Stratford -on -Avon — Ben Jonson on Shakespeare — Absurd Stories about the Great Dramatist — Aubrey's Gossip — The Theatre in Blackfriars — The Company of Players —;;B en Jonson in the " Apollo " at the " Devil and Saint Dunstan " Tavern — Shakespeare's Early Plays 189

CHAPTEE XII.

THE " SEPARATISTS " IN BRIDEWELL.

Early Nonconformists — The Church formed in Bridewell Prison — Persecution of the Separatists — Gaol Fever — Fitz — Barrowe — Greenwood — The Queen's Compunction — Predecessors of the Pilgrim Fathers — ^Preston's Cainbi/ses — Shakespeare's Plays Printed— The Impending Fate of Raleigh— King James on his way to London— The Star Chamber— Sir Eobert Kllligrew and the Countess of Dorset in the Fleet Prison— Prosecutions of Printers — Secret Publications — Pamphlets and Libels — The Rule of Elizabeth and of James I. compared . 221

CHAPTER XIII.

THE "mermaid," THE '' DEVIL," AND THE " MITRE."

Shakespeare's Dramas Acted and Printed — The Winter Theatre in Blackfriars — Ben Jonson — Tobacco at the Theatres — Randolph — The " Bricklayer "—Jonson' s Duel— The Childi-en of the Chapel— Salathiel Pavy— Fleet Street Shows— Jonson' s Plays, Masques, and Revels — High Jinks at Com-t — Herrick— The "Apollo" — Leges Conviviales — Dick's — Lilly, the Astrologer — The Royal Society — The Society of Antiquaries — Sii" Hugh Myddelton and the New River — Cowley . . . 233

CHAPTER XIV.

BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE.

Increased Number of Coaches — Taylor, the "Water Poet — Tobacco — ^The ' ' Counterblast ' ' — Shoe Lane — Bangor House — Izaak Walton — General Monk in Fleet Street — John Florio — Decreetz — Lovelace — His Grave in St. Bride's — Pepys at the Cockpit — Hogarth in Harp Lane— Oldbourne Hall — Bishop Dolben — St. Andrew's Workhouse — Chatterton — An Obliterated Graveyard — St. Bride's Chiu'ch — Richardson — Stationers' HaU— Portraits— Steele— The Company's Plate— The School — Milton in Fleet Street — Lilburne — Prynne — Andrew Marvell— Oliver Cromwell— Fetter Lane .... 279

X TEE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

PAGE

CHAPTER XV.

AYHITEFRIARS AXD THE PLAY-HOUSES.

Salisbury Coui't — Dorset Gardens — The Davenants — Bettertou — Han-is — Killigrew — The King's and the Duke's Theatres — Privilege of Sanctuary— " Alsatians " — Templars and 'Prentices — Censorship of the Press — Prosecution of Printers — Mutilation of Books 300

CHAPTER XVI.

EARLY NEWSPAPERS AND PAMPHLETS.

The Mercuries — Scm-iilous News-letters — Pepys in Fleet Street — His Diary— The Court— The Stage— Prize Fights- The Rump- Coaches — Elias Ashmole — Freemasonry — Lilly, the Astrologer — Roasting the Rumps in Fleet Street — The Great Fire — St. Dunstan's and the Giants — Ned Ward — Cowper — The Booksellers — Tokens — The ' ' Rainbow ' ' — The ' ' Cock ' ' — Tennyson in the Highway of Letters — Will Waterproof — "The Violet of a Legend amidst the Chops and Steaks " — Pepys Making Merry at the " Cock " — Bankers in Fleet Street — The Grab of the Stuarts — Child's Bank — Sir Christopher Wren — Titus Gates — Roger North at the Green Dragon — Petitioners and Abhorrers — Burning the Pope at Temple Bar — The New Temple Bar — The Heads above it— Goldsmith and Johnson — Aubrey — Dryden — Great Preachers in Fleet Street— Will's Coffee-house — Addison — Defoe . . . . . .311

CHAPTER XVII.

THE "COFFEE-HOUSES."

Daniel Defoe — His Ups and Downs — Jonathan Swift— Gay's "Trivia" — Dunton the Publisher — Jacob Tonson — Bernard Lintot— The Court at Kensington — Will's Coffee-house — Steele and Addison — Button's Coffee-house — Pope and Voltaire — A Picturesque Age — Nando's Coffee-house — A ScuiTilous Publisher — The Kit-Kat Club — Francis Atterbury and Joseph Butler 353

CHAPTER XVIII.

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

Jolmson in the Highway of Letters — Dryden, Swinney, and Cibber at Will's— Boswell — Pope and Johnson's Poem — The Friends who sought Johnson's Company — Johnson's Maniage— Lucy

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

Porter — Portrait of Mrs. Johnson by Garrick — The Adelphi — The Literary Club — Fanny Burney — Johnson and Garrick — Johnson's Portrait by Eeynolds — Hogarth — Eichardson — Mrs. Thrale — Her Anecdotes of Johnson — Her Marriage with Piozzi— Oliver Goldsmith in Green Ai'bour Court and Wine Office Coui't— Meetings at the " Old Cheshire Cheese " — Miss Eeynolds — The UgUest Man — Eeynolds' Fees for Portraits — The " Eetahation "— The " Vicai- of Wakefield "—Mr. Newbery, the PubHsher — Eichardson at Home — Mrs. Barbauld — Sir John Hawkins — John Wilkes and the North Triton in Fleet Street — Meeting of Wilkes and Johnson — The St. Dunstan's Club 383

CHAPTEE XIX.

THE CLOSE OF AN ERA IN THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

The Mug-house Eiots— Eead'sin Salisbury Cotui; — The Fleet Prison — William Penn — Eichard Savage — Huggins and Bambridge — Horrible Cruelties — The Commission of Enquiry — Hogarth's Pictui-e — The Gordon Eiots — John Scott, Lord Eldon— William Scott, Lord StoweU— " The Perch," in Cursitor Street— Love and Law — Sprat Suppers — " Crocodile " Eldon — Diamond Cut Diamond — The Later Days of Dr. Johnr.on — The Thrales and the Eiots — Death of Mr. Thrale — Marriage of Mrs. Thrale and Piozzi — Death of Dr. Johnson — From Fleet Street to Westminster Abbey — The House in Bolt Court — Stationers' Company — Newspapers — Eeports of Debates Forbidden — Abbreviated Accounts of Proceedings — " Liberty of the Press " — Newspapers in 1818 and in 1893 . 419

CHAPTEE XX.

SUCCEIJSOKS or DR. JOHNSON — CHARLES LAMB.

Carlyle's Portrait of Lamb — Brother and Sister — Hoole—" Omniscient Jackson" — Benchers of the Temple — Charles and Mary Lamb in Crown Office Eow— The School in Fetter Lane — Mr. Starkey — At Large iu a Library — The Temple Buiial Ground — Christ's Hospital — Coleridge — Poverty — Needlework — The Shadow of a Boy's Love — WilHam and Dorothy Wordsworth — Hazlitt — The Lambs in Chancery Lane — In Mitre Court Biuldiags— Supper Parties — Godwin Dyer — Crabbe Eobinson — Holcroft — Barry Cornwall — Inner Temple Lane — Mary Lamb as a Teacher and Adviser — Emma Isola — Haydon — Keats — Eitcliie— Tom Hood — Keats' Lodging in Cheapside — Leigh Hunt — A Narrowing Circle — Edmonton — De xii THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

PAGE

Quiucey's Estimate of Lamb — Lamb's Contribution to Newspapers — The Examiiwr — Leigh. Hunt in Prison — His Visitors — His Pxison Bower — B3T.'on — Scott — MuiTay .... 449

CHAPTER XXI.

A TRANSITION IN THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

Scurrilous Papers— TAe Age — The Satirist — Westmacott — Gregory —The To 2r;?— "Baron" Nicholson— The John i?^?//— Theodore Hook — Ligoldsby — Rogers — Secoud Editions — The Courier — Charles Knight — His Epitaph by JeiTold — Charles Dickens — "Pickwick " — " Oliver Twist " — Changing Aspects of London — Household Words — Tunch — Mark Lemon — The Shakespeare's Head — TheMayhews — T\\.QTunch Staff — Leech — Albert Smith — ]\Iaginn— The New Timon — Tennyson versus Bulwer Lytton, in Punch — Thackeray — Grus Mayhew's Introduction to the Illustrated london Neics — Douglas Jerrold — Iloi/d's Weekly Newspaper — The "Train-band" — Mr. G-. A. Sala — The Savage Club — Fun and its Staff — Tom Robertson — Hemy S. Leigh — Hemy Byron — William Jeffery Prowse — W. S. Gilbert and Sii- Arthur Sullivan— Mr. Clement Scott- Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry — John Crawford "Wilson and the White Friars — The Golden Highway 472

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

" Let us take a Walk down Fleet Street " . Frontispiece

Armohial Device op Inner Temple 1

A Knight Templar 4

Rotunda of the Temple Church 9

The Original Priory Church of St. John, Clerkenwell . 11

The Old Tabard Inn . .12

Chaucer as a Pilgrim 13

The Man of Law .16

The Wife of Bath 17

The Squire 20

The Miller 25

The Friar 28

The Pardonee 33

Lydgate Contemplating the Wheel of Fortune ... 40

Old Charing Cross 44

Wycliffe . . .45

The Lollards' Prison, Lambeth Palace .... 48

John Gower 49

Gower Shooting at the World 56

Priory of St. Mary Overy 61

Stow's Monument in the Church of St. Andrew Under-

SHAFT 64

Tomb of Gower in St. Saviour's, South wark . . .65

A Paston Letter 66

Baynard's Castle 73

Old Houses Recently Demolished in Fleet Street . . 76

Early Printing 80

A Modern Printing Machine . . . . . .81

THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

AFTER THE

Fall of

Fac-simile of Caxton's Printing

College of Physicians, Warwick Lane — The Quadrangle

Emblematic Detice .

Thomas More ....

The Island of Utopia

WOLSEY

Hall of Ely HorsE in 1772 .

Lud-Gate .....

Old St. Paul's, with the Spire Old St. Paul's, from the South-

THE Spire .

Sir Thomas Wyatt .

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey Plan of Fleet Street in 1563 Preacher's Hour- G-l ass .

Cheapside Cross in 1547, showln^g Part of

OF Edward VI. to his Coronation Latimer Preaching before Edward YI. Edward YI. Eeceiting a Book from John Bale Gateway of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 1750 John Fox the Procession

Cap of Fool in Old Play ....

Map of Neighbourhood of St. Paul's in 1540 Properties of Yice and Fool in Old Play .

Old Serjeants' Inn

Old Temple Bar, Erected in the Reign of James I.

Richard Tarleton

Inner Court of the Belle Sauvage

The Fool of the Old Play ....

Inner Court of Gresham's Royal Exchange

Frontispiece to Bacon's "No-^ttm Organum "

Border from the "Mirror for Magistrates'

From Title-page to Induction to " Mirror for ^Magistrates

Ralph Roister-Doister

Publisher's Mark on Title-page of Second Part Faerie Queene " ....

The Red-Cross Knight

Tail-piece from Lyly's '-Euphues"

OF "The

FAGE

108 113 118 121 135

197 200 204

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv

PAGE

The Good Shepherd (Oknament) ...... 205

ElCHARD BURBAGE 208

The Globe Theatre, ton}). Elizabeth 213

From the Title-page to Egbert Greene's " Groundwork

OF Coney Catching". ...... 216

Old Theatre Check 217

Another View of the Globe Theatre ..... 219

Tail-piece from the " Mirror for Magistrates " . . 220

Plan of Bankside Early in the Seventeenth Century . 221

Old Houses at Bankside ....... 224

The Marshalsea in the Eighteenth Century . . . 225

The Star Chamber 231

St. Mary Overy 236

Somerset House and Stairs before their Demolition . 240

The Eleet Ditch ......... 245

The Temple in 1671 248

The Bolt-in-Tun, 1859 256

The Eoyal Society's House in Crane Court . . . 264

Old St. Dunstan's Church 273

The Savoy in 1650 277

From a Folio of Ben Jonson's Works, 1641 . . . 278 Richardson Reading from the MS. of " Sir Charles Gran-

dison" 279

Outer Court of La Belle Sauvage, 1828 .... 280

The "Black Lion," Whitefriars . . . . . .281

IzAAK Walton's House at the Corner of Chancery Lane . 284

Old St. Paul's School, 1750 289

Virtue and Innocence at the Tomb of "Clarissa" . . 292 Interior of (the present) Stationers' Hall . . .293

Portrait of Steele ........ 297

House said to have been Occupied by Dryden in Fetter

Lane 301

Dorset Gardens Theatre . . . . . . .305

Roasting the Rumps in Fleet Street at the Restoration . 313

Old St. Dunstan's Clock 321

Child's Bank in 1850 329

West Front of Temple Bar in 1710 . . . . . 337 xvi THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

PAGE

Ornament from Burnet's " History of His Own Time " . 352 Publisher's Mark for Title-page of Second Part of

" KoBiNSON Crusoe" 353

Ornament from "The Further Adventures of Robinson

Crl'Soe" 360

"Lemuel Gulliver" ...... . . 361

Jacob Tonson 369

Frontispiece to "The Rape of the Lock" .... 377 Ornament from the Title-page to Pope's Works . .381

Painted Ceiling over the Pit of Goodman's Fields Theatre 383

Samuel Johnson 393

Hogarth 400

Sophia Rescued . 409

The Trial of Wilkes 416

Wedding in the Fleet 421

Johnson's Pevt in St. Clement Danes' 428

GouGH Sql^are 433

Johnson's House in the Temple . . . . . .441

Screen of the Middle Temple Hall 450

Old Hall of the Inner Temple 453

Sundial in the Temple 457

"Goldsmith's Tomb" IN 1860 461

William Wordsworth 463

The Cloisters of Christ's Hospital 464

The Western Quadrangle of Christ's Hospital, about 1780 465

Wig Shop in the IMiddle Temple 471

Thomas Carlyle 480

Street Front of the Fleet Prison ..... 485

Wine Office Court and the " Cheshire Cheese " . . 489

THE

HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

CHAPTER I.

WITH CHAUCER ON FLEET BRIDGE.

The Highway of Letters before Printing — Turnmill Brook — River of Wells — Hole-bourne — The Fleet — The Palace and the Prison — Fleet Bridge — Aspect of Streets and Houses — Churches — Mansions — "Mine Inn" — Temple Bar — The Temple and the Templars — Old and New Settlements of Templars — Survivals — Knights Hospitallers — Successors— Serjeants — Masters of the Eolls — The World of Letters — A Thousand Years before Milton — With Chaucer and G-ower on Fleet Bridge— Good Company in Fleet Street — Costume — Eating and Drinking — "Boltas Mootes" — "Paradise" — Edward III. — John of Graunt, Duke of Lancaster — Baynard's Castle — WyclifEe at St. Paul's Church — Eiots of the Citizens against Lancaster — Tumult in Fleet Street — Sack of the Savoy.

Fleet Street may be said to have been " tlte Highivay of Letters" long before William Caxton set up his printing press at the Almonry in Westminster — long before printed books had been seen in England or on the Continent of Europe.

When the Tower of London was a royal residence at the eastern extremity

AEMOEIAL DEVICE OF INNER TEMPLE.

2 TEE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS. [I.

of the City, the Castle called " the King's Wardrobe," and the Great Palace of Bridewell, named after the Well of St. Bridget, were the dwellings of the Sovereign in the western or fashionable quarter, represented by the bank of the River Thames beyond Ludgate and the vicinity of "the River of Wells." This river was chiefly fed by Clerkenwell, Skinner's Well, and other springs in the northern suburb, where sundry mills belonging to the Knights Templars and other persons were worked by water power. It was called Turnmill Brook, till it received the water of the Old, or Hole Bourne,* and so went brawling, with much accelerated movement, past the Royal Prison — in Farringdon — where it took the name of the Fleet, the Saxon word for a navigable inlet. It flowed beneath a bridge of timber at the foot of Ludgate Hill, and passed the Palace of Bridewell, before it flashed into the Thames, having given its name to the broad straggling thoroughfare leading from the said Fleet Bridge to the Temple. This thoroughfare, the highway from the Tower and by Chepe to Westmonester, was the resort of the aristocracy when the Court was in London, and the barons and nobles came home from the wars. The fashionable promenade was in the Temple and in the nave and aisles of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, the vast and magnificent building on the crown of Ludgate Hill, where a multitude of chantry priests officiated all day long, and the shrine of St. Erkenwald,

* Hole bourne, or stream in a hollow, same derivation as Holland (HoUow Land).

I] FLEET STREET FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 3

glowing with gold and gems — only more sumptuous than other shrines in the stupendous edifice — vied with the high altar itself in imposing splendour.

The great Cathedral occupied a larger area than that which is covered by the present building, and the eastern front and portico stood in a somewhat different position, being turned more towards the river and the gate of Lud, which opened in the City wall rather to the south-west.

Early in the fourteenth century many of the houses in Fleet Street were only mean tenements built of wood and plaster, with roofs of thatch or straw ; but the frequent fires by which such structures were destroyed gave opportunities for improvement which are not enjoyed by our present sanitary authorities in dealing with more modern foul and dilapidated dwellings. By the end of the reign of Edward III. many houses in London streets were rebuilt with roofs of slates and tiles. They were still poor dwellings, many of them little better than hovels ; but in the main streets the quaint and picturesque form of building, the high-pitched roof and gables, the projecting upper storeys, the open shops or stalls beneath, the rudiments of ornamental designs and traceries on the wooden or plaster fronts, the carved beams of timber, the quaintly-pictured sign-boards, gave colour and variety to a street more gay, varied, and picturesque than the present dingy paid sordid thoroughfare.

Here and there were to be seen churches, notably those of St. Bridget and St. Duns tan, associated with

B 2

THE HIGHWAY OF LETTERS.

the houses of religious fraternities, such as the Dominicans and the CarmeHtes. Approached from the

main thoroughfare by tributary streets and lanes were some of the spacious inns, or London mansions, of the bishops, barons, or nobles ; for at that time "inn" meant dwelling, and the question, " Shall I not take mine ease at mine inn ? " v/as to be interpreted, " Am I not to study my own comfort in my o^vn house ? " At the end of the highway of Fleet Street, near where the bar and balks of timber with chains crossing the roadway marked the boundary between City and County at Shire Lane, were the extensive buildings, the superb and solemn church, and the pleasant gardens extending to the river, which had lately formed the settlement of the famous Knights Templars. They had built this new abode after their removal from their older settlement in Holborne.

Near those earlier dwellings of the Templars Avere the Inn of the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Inn of the Furnivals, knights who went with Richard Coeur de Lion to Palestine. The old " Temple " in Holborne

A KKIGHT TEirPLAE,

I.] TEMPLARS AND HOSPITALLERS. 5

was built soon after tlie foundation of tlie order of Knights Templars in 1118, and though no remnant of it is supposed to remain, it was not all pulled down till 1595. It is claimed by the proprietor of Wood's Hotel in Furnival's Inn, that a room in that establishment occupies the site of the chapel, and is partly formed of the last remaining portion of it. This room is still set apart for the morning and evening prayers that are, or were lately, observed there for the benefit of visitors to the hotel, which is seldom, if ever, without a clergyman among its guests.

The stately figures of the Templars ceased to appear in Fleet Street when their powerful, wealthy, and arrogant order was dissolved by the Papal edict, supporting the demands of those Sovereigns who were as much alarmed at the vast assumptions of independent authority by the Knights of the Ked Cross, as they professed to be concerned at the alleged declension of moral and religious principles in that once pious order.